


Of stars and blades

by Autistic_Assassin_Bird



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, 宇宙戦隊キュウレンジャー | Uchu Sentai Kyuranger
Genre: Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-04-20 22:12:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14270622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Autistic_Assassin_Bird/pseuds/Autistic_Assassin_Bird
Summary: Stinger did not expect to wake up someplace else after finding the Argo. Especially with someone he didn't like.The Argo wasn't the only secret on Earth, nor was it the only thing Don Armage was looking for.





	1. Chapter 1

A vast sea of sand dunes was the first thing Scorpio saw when he woke up. He should have been dead after Don Armage blasted him with dark energy. How had he even gotten here?

He got to his feet and turned when he heard a groan.  _Is that...Stinger? But how is he here? He wasn't hit by the dark energy blast._ "Sting?" He said quietly, coming over to him. 

His brother's eyes widened. "What the -? Scorpio? What are you doing here? Where are we?" 

"I have no idea." 

A chuckle made the two look up, Stinger getting to his feet. A woman stood behind them. She had dark skin, black hair, golden eyes, and was wearing white robes. A curved, hooked sword was in her hand and a brown eagle with white bars on it's wings perched on one shoulder. 

"Who are you?" Scorpio growled, tail twitching in anticipation of an attack. "I am Amunet." She answered. 

"Where are we?" Stinger asked. "Egypt, northern part of the continent of Africa in Earth's southern hemisphere. Just near the Ancient Egyptian city of Memphis." 

"As to why you are here," She pointed to Scorpio. "I am here to guide you to the Field of Reeds, but to do so, you must atone for your crimes by doing a job for me." She turned to Stinger. "You're here to help him." 

"What is this 'job'?" Scorpio asked. "Go to Memphis, lift the curse there. Kill whoever is responsible. Speak to the high preist, Pasherenptah, when you arrive at the temple. He will tell you more." 

The woman disappeared, leaving them staring at nothing. Scorpio started walking in the direction she'd incidented, Stinger following him. 

They arrived in Memphis, and as they neared the temple, they heard people talking. 

"Perhaps we forgot some part of the ritual." A man said. "I will vomit if I hear more. Have no doubt of this. If our child dies, I die." A woman replied. 

"No, my lotus. Don't speak like that."

"I am going to the Seer's house. Just leave me be." 

They continued on until they got to the temple. "Are you the high priest?" Stinger asked a man near the entrance. "Uh, yes. I am Pasherenptah." The man answered. "Who are you two?"

"I'm Stinger and this is my older brother, Scorpio." Stinger said. "We heard Memphis was having trouble and we'd thought we'd help." Scorpio added. 

The high priest nodded. "There is a man who goes by the aliasis, the Lizard. He is another sickness this city is cursed with. Even my own house is not immune. My wife has miscarried three times this year. If she loses a fourth..." 

Stinger placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll figure out this curse." 

"Thank you. I suggest you speak to the Seer. His house is southwest of here." 

Stinger nodded and set off.


	2. Chapter 2

Stinger had been the one who suggested dressing up to match the people around them. They bought long skirts and sandals before going to an empty room that Pasherenptah left open for them to change in.

Scorpio had black scorpion markings outlined in blue painted on his face (a mark of Scorpius system scholars and scribes) while Stinger had black claw markings around his eyes that mimicked Antares marks (a mark of healers and priests). Both of them had eyeshadow on. (Apparently that was a thing in Ancient Egypt.)

When they emerged from the room, they immediately headed toward the seer’s house. “Wait here. I'll go inside.” Scorpio said. “No. I'm going in too.” Stinger replied.

His brother sighed in annoyance. “Fine.”

The seer looked up as they came in. “Ah, the Messenger and the Protector have arrived.” He said. “Sir, we're here to ask about the curse and what we can do -” Stinger began.

“I suggest you check the Apis bull and the temple food for clues.”

“Why are you being so upfront about it?” Stinger asked. “You're not the man I need to see. He hasn't come yet.” The seer replied. They left the house.

“Well, that was easier than expected.” Scorpio said as they made their way to the Apis bull’s pen. “I’ll investigate. How about you question anyone around here?” Stinger frowned. “Fine.”

He went over to a man nearby. “Excuse me, do you know who the Apis bull’s caretakers are?” He asked. “Oh, the twin priestesses.” The man replied, pointing at two young women standing near a shed, talking. Stinger nodded and went over to them. “Excuse me, but are you the caretakers of the Apis bull?”

The twin girls looked up, eyes widening in fear and surprise when he spoke. “Who are you?” One asked. “I am Igne, a priest of Serket. I’m here to investigate the Apis bull’s sickness with my brother, Akrep, a priest and scribe of Seshat.” He answered.

“I am Taous and this is Tawe.” One of the girls answered.  “Tell me, how long have you worked here?”

“We’ve only been here two months. We bring the god’s food and someone cleans away his filth and brings his water everyday.” Stinger nodded. “Does anyone here look suspicious?”

“The farmer does. He has an evil look in his eye.” The other sister said. Scorpio came over a couple minutes later. He handed Stinger a peach pit. “Cyanide is an interesting choice for poisoning something.” He remarked.

“W-we’re sorry. We just want to save our brother, Panchrates.” Tawe said. “Where is he? We’ll help get him back.” Stinger said. “The bandits who took him imprisoned him at the abandoned temple of Hathor.” Taous answered.

Stinger nodded and went in the direction of the temple the two priestesses pointed out. As he neared, he noticed guards wearing armour. Instinctively, he reached for his kyutama before remembering he didn't have it or his seiza blaster on him at the moment. Instead, he snuck past the guards by digging underground.

He crept over to a group of cages at one end of the temple and unlocked them. “Hey, are you Panchrates?” He asked the man. The man nodded. “Y-yes. Who are you?”

“I'm Stinger. I'm here to bring you back to your sisters.” He told him. Stinger helped him out and guided him over to a horse. “I think I saw two others as well. A woman and a boy.” Panchrates said. “They were wearing odd clothes. The soldiers mentioned taking them to Krokodilopolis.”

Stinger tensed. "When was this?" He asked. He already had a feeling who the man was talking about. "A week ago." They stayed silent as they rode to the twin priestesses’ house. They got off. “Do you know anything about who took you, Panchrates?”

“I think it was a priest wearing a blue scarf with a bad cough.” He answered. Stinger nodded before spotting Scorpio nearby. “Find out anything useful?” Scorpio asked. Stinger relayed the information he learned. "We'll go as soon as we can, check things out for sure."


	3. Chapter 3

“Why don’t we go now?” Stinger asked. “Because we -” Scorpio bit his lower lip before shaking his head. “Never mind. We'll go now.”

They traveled to Krokodilopolis soon after. As night fell, they stopped to rest.

“Do you think that Amunet lady or whatever she is was really a goddess? Something felt off about her.” Stinger asked. Scorpio shrugged. “To be honest, I don't think so.”

“Hmm. Me neither.” Stinger couldn't help pacing around, his mind going through several scenarios of what would happen when they got to Krokodilopolis. “Stinger,” Scorpio snapped. “Go to sleep.”

The next morning, they stopped in a village near a lake to get food and supplies. “Ah, visitors.” A woman said, greeting them as they arrived. “Are you here to stay for the night?” Scorpio shook his head. “No, we’re just here to get supplies. We’re on our way to Krokodilopolis.” He answered. The woman nodded. “Of course. We need to talk to the protector of our village, the Lizard of Faiyum, though.”

The woman went over to the kitchen building. Several minutes later, she came out with a familiar woman following her.  _ Hammie? What’s she doing here? _

The other Kyuranger excused herself and grabbed Stinger by the arm, dragging him over to a less crowded spot. “What are you doing here, Stinger?” Stinger explained what ‘Amunet’ had told him. Hammie stared. “She visited me too shortly before me and Kotaro were caught by soldiers. She told me I needed to keep an eye on a ledger here about someone known as ‘the Crocodile’.”

“Kotaro?” Stinger said. “Do you know where Kotaro is, Hammie?” She shook her head. “I lost track of him when I escaped the soldiers. He’s probably in Krokodilopolis. I’d go with you to check but the soldiers in the area have been getting rather brutal lately.”

Stinger turned to see several soldiers coming toward where they were. “It reminds me a bit too much of Jark Matter.” He grumbled. Hammie nodded. “Exactly.”

“Is it okay if I help you?” He asked. Hammie laughed and lightly slapped his shoulder. “Of course.”

Hammie walked over to the kitchen again and went over to the woman to talk. After several more minutes of waiting, she went back over. “Khemut says you two can stay for now.”

Stinger smiled. “Good.”

Later in the afternoon, Hammie introduced Stinger and Scorpio to Khemut and her daughter, Shadya.

“What are you two priests of, Stinger?” Shadya asked. “I'm a priest of Serqet and a healer and my brother is a scrollkeeper and priest of Seshat.” Stinger replied.

Scorpio came back shortly after and tapped Shadya’s shoulder. “Hey, little one.” He said. “I brought you something from your dad.” He handed the girl a doll. Shadya grinned, her eyes lighting up in joy. “Thank you, Scorpio. I will call her...Iset. She'll protect all of Faiyum like Hammie is protecting us.” Scorpio chuckled. “Course she will, Shadya.” Stinger couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his brother smile with such genuine happiness or act so gentle. He chuckled and went over to sit near a wall.

Hammie came back a few seconds later. “I checked the villa for the ledger but didn't find it.” She reported. Just as she said that, soldiers arrived.

“We're here to do a routine check with you.” One told Khemut. Hammie motioned to Stinger and Scorpio to follow her. She tossed Stinger a knife and Scorpio got a hooked sword. He failed to catch it and it hit him in the face. “Hey! Watch it!” He snapped. “Oops.” Hammie said, smirking. Stinger snickered.

Everything blurred around him. He blinked and shook his head and when he looked up, everything had cleared up again. Scorpio placed a hand on his shoulder, tail curling around Stinger's arm. “You okay, Stinger?” He asked. “I'm fine.”

The feeling of something being wrong from when he'd seen Amunet returned, twisting his stomach into knots and making him want to run as far away as possible.

Stinger followed the others to the docks. A group of soldiers were already talking to Khemut when they arrived. Two of the more brutish looking guards stepped in front of them. “Tell us where the ledger is.” A guard said, grabbing Shadya. “I don't have it.” Khemut answered.

“Enough of the lies. We know you have it.” Stinger stung the guard. He dropped to the ground, convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Hammie stabbed another guard in the throat. The remaining guards surrounded them. A masked person appeared as if from nowhere and grabbed Shadya. The person threw her into the water.

“Shadya!” Hammie shrieked. Scorpio dove in after the girl. Stinger charged at a guard, grabbing the shield of one who'd fallen and bashing the man’s head in with it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Scorpio surface with the girl and swim to the shore. He stung the last guard and ran over to his brother.

Shadya puked up water. “She'll be fine.” Scorpio told Khemut. The woman nodded.

They stayed for a little while longer to rest and tend to wounds. When Stinger went to check on Scorpio, he found his brother asleep, curled around Shadya as the little girl laid her head on his chest. He went over and shook his shoulder. “Hey, bro, we’re leaving.”

Scorpio woke up, looked at him, and nodded. They went over to the boat Hammie had taken and boarded.

When they arrived at Krokodilopolis, Stinger asked Hammie where they should start looking. “I think there's an arena around here. Or a fort. He could be there.” She suggested. “I say we check the fort first.” Scorpio said.

Stinger nodded. “Good idea.”

They made their way to the fort. It was weird how no one spared a glance at them. Two heavily armed men with scorpion tails and a woman carrying more weapons than either man should have raised a lot more eyebrows. Stinger found it sort of jarring that no one seemed to spare them a second glance.

They made it to the fort and Hammie and Stinger snuck inside.

“Did you hear about the prisoner General Flavius and General Septimius visited?”

“I heard that they decided to take him with them to Cyrene to look for tombs and inspect the artifacts that they found in Siwa.”

Stinger held back an angry hiss. Kotaro wasn't even here. They'd arrived there for nothing. They left the fort and met back up with Scorpio. “Well, we'll need to find out where Cyrene is -” He began.

“I can help you.” They turned to see Amunet. “How?” Hammie asked. The “goddess” smiled and the scenery around them blurred. When things came back into focus, they were standing in front of a pyramid. Guards stood around a small camp.

Amunet was gone. Hammie turned invisible and snuck around the perimeter. Stinger followed at a distance. “I wonder why the general brought that boy here with him. He creeps me out.” A guard said.

“I know. His eyes especially. When I was sent to wake the boy up this morning, he was already awake, and muttering about stuff, pacing around the tent. When I told him to get ready to go into Khufu’s pyramid and to go talk to General Flavius, he glared at me like I'd killed his cat.” Another replied.

“Do you know why General Flavius keeps the boy around? I've heard rumors about an artifact from Siwa and something about ancient tombs and gods. I've also heard that he seems to know things that should be impossible for him to know.” The first added. The second guard shrugged. “I have no idea.” 

Stinger froze when he spotted his brother sneaking out of a tent. “Look what I found.” He said, handing them documents. Hammie grabbed them. “Dumbass.” She grumbled. The three of them walked toward the pyramid and crept through the entrance.

Lit braziers lined the walls. After going down a narrow, descending passage and after crawling through a small hole, they found a pit that opened into a tunnel. “Should we go down there?” Hammie asked. Scorpio shrugged. “Probably.” He dropped down into the hole, Stinger following him.

When the three of them emerged from the tunnel, they saw a man wearing red robes and a boy standing next to him. “I’ll distract the guards.” Hammie said. “Stinger will grab Kotaro. Scorpio will be the lookout.”

Stinger dropped down onto the sandy floor. The strange black stone the chamber was made of didn’t seem human-made at all. Everything looked like it had been made for larger creatures, towering over the humans in the room.

A guard went down and the man in red turned around. Stinger poisoned him, leaving him spasming on the floor. He approached Kotaro. “Kotaro, come on.” He said, placing a hand on his shoulder. The boy turned to look at him, his mouth forming into a smile. “Aniki!” He said happily. Kotaro quickly followed him out of the chamber.

At first, Stinger thought it had been nothing but a trick of the light in the dark chamber, but when the four of them were back outside the pyramid, he saw that there was something odd about Kotaro’s eyes. His right eye was a dark blue and his left eye was a brownish-amber with a smaller pupil than his right eye.

“I stole stuff from Flavius when he wasn’t looking.” Kotaro told him. “You want to see it?”

“Maybe later, Kotaro. We need to leave.” Hammie replied.

They managed to find a small cave and camp there for the night.

Scorpio woke up when it was still dark. The Chameleon lady and Stinger were still asleep. The earthling boy was nowhere to be seen. He heard the faint sound of rocks falling from the top of the canyon.

He climbed up and pulled himself over the lip of the cliff. When he looked up, he saw the boy sitting in the sand.

He walked over and sat down. He noticed a pouch was lying at the boy’s feet. “Hey, kid, whatcha doing?” He asked. “My name’s Kotaro.” The boy snapped.

Something about him had seemed rather odd. When Scorpio had poisoned Stinger and forced him and the kid to fight each other, he'd noticed a strange look in the boy’s eyes, almost as if he knew things that no one else did.

“Have you heard any Earth legends?” The question caught him off guard. “You mean like the Argo?” He asked. Kotaro shook his head. “That's not what I'm talking about. I mean legends of Earth, like the ones that mention mythical artifacts.”

Scorpio frowned. “No, I didn't really pay attention to that kind of stuff.”

“I personally think my teammates should. If we did, we could have found something even more powerful than the Argo to help defeat Don Armage. Like Apples of Eden, swords, staves, staffs, axes, clubs, daggers.” Kotaro continued. Scorpio leaned his tail on the boy's shoulders.

“What's in that pouch you have there, kid?” He reached out but the boy grabbed his hand. “Something I think can defeat Don Armage, or at least, indabees and tsuyoindavers.” He opened the pouch and removed a golden sphere with strange lines on it.

“This is one of many artifacts left behind by Those Who Came Before, also called the Isu.” Kotaro’s voice became slightly deeper, his eyes seeming to glow slightly. The air seemed to grow colder and Scorpio suddenly felt the urge to go back down into the cave, wake up Stinger and the Chameleon girl, and run as far away from the earthling boy as possible.

He shook his head. “We should get some sleep.” Kotaro nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

When Stinger got up the next morning, he was surprised to see Amunet standing a bit away from them. When Kotaro spotted her, his expression darkened. The boy got up and went over to the woman. “Should we follow him? I don’t trust her.” Hammie asked. Stinger walked over to the ‘goddess’.

“Ah, hello. I have a new task for you all.” Amunet said when they approached. “Enough.” Hammie said. “We’re tired of these tasks and we want to get home. Why did you bring us here anyway?”

Kotaro glared at the woman. “That’s not really her. Just an illusion.” Amunet stared, surprised, at the boy before her expression soured. “So, I see there’s a sage among you.” She said, her voice changing and becoming more echoey sounding. Stinger shuddered. Something about the way she’d said the words made him want to flee as far as he could from her.

Kotaro grabbed the pouch he carried. “Let us go home,  _ Juno. _ ” The woman’s appearance changed. She was no longer a human woman, but a being made of golden light. Her eyes seemed to stare into the very depths of their souls, like she was considering whether to kill them or not.

The boy took out a golden sphere. It glowed brightly. “I can help you defeat Jark Matter.” She said. “Really?” Hammie asked. Juno nodded. “Yes. You have to do one thing though; pledge your loyalty to me.”

“No.” Stinger turned to look at Scorpio. His brother was glaring at the woman, tail poised like he was preparing to sting her. The woman looked at him. “No?” She repeated. Scorpio grabbed Stinger’s hand.

Kotaro stepped forward. He whispered something that Stinger couldn’t catch. The sphere glowed brighter and with a flash of light, everything blurred and was gone.

“Stinger!” Stinger opened his eyes to see Lucky staring at him. His hand burned and tingled like it had been pressed against hot metal.

“Where were you guys?”

“We were so worried! You guys were missing for three hours.”

Kotaro and Hammie were with him in the medical ward of the Orion-gou. The golden sphere was clutched tightly in one of the boy's hands.


End file.
